Maximus didn't take those photos. He didn't publish those books.
Why don't you ban photography in the Kumbh mela, and the streets and slums of Bharat?
The whole world is posting these pictures, from newspapers to the bbc website, yet if a Pakistani posts them all hell breaks lose, and we are accused of hatred towards Hindus.
What is wrong if certain outdated concepts and rituals are criticised? Is it better not to leave such superstitious things?
Would you also object to the historical truth of muslims and british christians forcing Bharatis to stop the tradition of sati?
If it hadn't been for us, many women would still be burnt to death today.
I don't object to stopping sati. WTH is sati doing here?
The point is you are showing the same pictures without understanding them.
The way of life of those saints(you seem to prefer 'sadhu' as a means to demean them) is beyond your intellect. You don't understand their philosophy of life. They renounced everything material(thats absolute everything you see and ridicule) for the search of truth and eternal bliss. Their way of life is not because of some blind belief.
Is the ash part that much of a problem? Ash will not contain any infectious material(abiotic). So the belief has no problem here.
Think about it...
You sit in your office till you are 60, then suck up to your kids to make them tolerate you, then die a death that is far from nature. At the end it won't matter at all.
The pictures of sexual positions are from Khajuraho temple. I am pretty sure the characters are not gods. Anyway the descriptions of sex in hindu religious texts are as explicit as anyother subject of human life.
They can only be educational. If you are more interested in such pictures.
khajuraho - Google Image Search
Also read wiki and other pages on Kamasutra.
Tell me one thing, how many people on this forum have never watched a porno? A flick or pic whatever...Is it Islamic?
So it is not bad to talk freely about sex.
It is only your narrowness that makes you think that Islamic traditions are everything.
So the bottomline about the sadhus is you need not pity them. It was their choice.
River bath is one of the sacred practices of Hinduism.
Every river accumulates all kinds of matter during its course. That was the case in any period. Only in recent years there is too much of pollution. At some point people will stop this practice.
You need not profess them about this.
Ask PETA about the breast feeding. They talk about humanity. It was the woman's choice.
I would not have replied to the pics.
But I wanted the members to know these things before they form ideas.
SO they were by choice.
Think now for yourself, are there no such 'sides' for Pakistan(you will claim =Islam, fine).
I will talk about something acceptable and less offesive for all. Applicable also to Indian. Consider the 'purdah' system. Do the women 'choose' to follow it?
In any case the title of the thread has to be 'The other side of Hinduism' except for a few pics of
differently abled people. Yes, in India they are not called 'disabled' as a gesture of dignity for them. Every country has poverty. I agree India has more of it. Every country also has disabled people.
The pics are in the least far from the topic. The pics should have been on poverty, religious discrimination and such matters.
PS: I don't have any problem with those xxx photos. Why should someone stop picturing Kumbh mela? Ridiculous.
Asking hindus to stop their customs is like asking ****** to ...